Supreme Court Decision Supports Lies, Corruption, States Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)

TUCSON, Ariz., June 28, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On June 28, a day that should live in infamy, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which sweeps away liberty and property rights in a vast expansion of federal power over one-sixth of the American economy.

While five Justices agreed that Congress does not have the constitutional authority under the Commerce Clause to mandate purchase of federally approved third-party payment ("insurance") plans, supposedly conservative Chief Justice Roberts says the mandate is constitutional as a tax.

If the mandate is a tax, then of course the President and the Congress lied when they repeated endlessly that it was not a tax. Alternately, congressional intent, which the Courts often scrutinize in their rulings, doesn't matter. The Court will resort to word games and other intellectual contortions in order to rubberstamp whatever the ruling powers desire.

The Supreme Court provides no protection against Congressional motives to enrich Congressmen and their campaign contributors. More evidence is emerging of back-room meetings of the White House and Congressmen with special interest groups as the Act was written. And the Court's decision was carefully watched by financial analysts because it will create winners and losers in the stock market.

Justice Roberts said that the decision does not imply that the Act is wise or good policy.

American Medical Association (AMA) president Jeremy Lazarus, M.D., applauded the decision, stating that it means "millions of Americans can look forward to the coverage they need to get healthy and stay healthy."  

"Coverage is not care," stated Jane Orient, M.D., executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). "The Act will increase costs, sharply restrict availability, and deny treatment to the old and the sick."

AAPS supports the repeal of PPACA and the restoration of freedom. "The key to patient protection and affordability is the patient-physician relationship and free-market competition," said Orient. Both are imperiled by PPACA. 

The lawsuit against PPACA filed by AAPS three days after the law passed in March 2010 is still pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and appears more important than ever. http://aapsonline.org/hhslawsuit. The AAPS litigation asserts a claim not made by the litigants in today's decision, that the individual mandate violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

"The physicians in AAPS will do everything in our power to see that this dreadful law is repealed," states AAPS President Alieta Eck ,M.D.

In addition to efforts in the legal arena, AAPS will work vigorously to help make sure voters are educated about the importance of electing new leaders in November who will stop subjugating patient care to the interests of the government and third parties. Lawmakers must understand what true patient-centered medicine means. (See AAPS Policy Initiatives http://bit.ly/QtMAGF ).

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a national organization representing physicians in all specialties, (www.aapsonline.org) which was founded in 1943 to defend the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship.

SOURCE Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)